North America, United States, Wyoming, Warbonnet Peak

Warbonnet Peak. In June Charlie Fowler and I made two free climbs in the Wind Rivers that equal and surpass the free routes on the Diamond of Longs Peak in length, difficulty and beauty. Both routes were on Warbonnet Peak. Feather Buttress follows the prominent crack system on the steep northern face and finishes via a spectacular but moderate layback up the incredibly sharp crest below the summit. NCCS V, F10+, 11 leads. On the southeast side of Warbonnet there is a large, flat wall of perfect granite, the first such rock that one sees on the approach over Jackass Pass into the Cirque of the Towers. Black Elk took a line slightly left of center, eventually climbing behind a huge chockstone which is wedged three-quarters of the way up the face. It has a little of everything; face-climbing, laybacks, cracks of all sizes and stemming added up to the finest free-climb either of us has ever done. NCCS V, F10, 10 long pitches.